Late Summer Fields Art Prints by Dan Haley III - Shop Canvas and Framed Wall Art Prints at Imagekind.com

Late Summer Fields Art Prints by Dan Haley III - Shop Canvas and Framed Wall Art Prints at Imagekind.com

Finished- Late Summer Field

Just finished. This afternoon I enhanced the main field and darkened the midground trees. Tonight I darkened the midground trees more, touched up the field a little more (adding flowers/color), worked the right field, and did the stone path. The path has a violet/gray underpainting layered with lighter violets, very light blues, and grays. A dark red brown was added to the path edges and the whole path got some light blending/smudging while still allowing the underpainting to come through. The shadows under the midground trees are a Diane Townsend Terrage, a very deep blue, blended out towrds the path. Finally I lightly blended the distant portions of the field to give more depth.
I used Great American and Mt Vision with Diane Townsends for the darkest darks. There are a few flecks og Art Spectrum and even less of Mungyo. Paper is white Colorfix (27.5 x 19.5) which held all of the layers with no issues and took 2 good fixative (SpectraFix) soakings.

My reference photo was of a stone road, not path, that was winding down through farm fields of corn towards a white house. The road is Culvert Rd in Shelby, NY. I just had a little freedom with it. What was cool about the trip was finding the tunnel built in 1823 that goes underneath the Erie Canal! The only tunnel under the canal, it leaks like crazy! the clearence is a short 7' and a few inches. Very cool.

Whats next? I have a few ideas and a request from my wife. I am thinking of doing the project she would like and using liquid pencil as a base. I want to start exploring with underpaintings of watercolor and acrylic for my pastels. Liquid pencil is waterbased so it will be a fun expirement!

Late Summer Fields

Near complete for the left field. A little more color in the background is needed. Tonight I also darkened the edge of the tree line using purples, blues and browns. The stone road received an underpainting of a light purple, and a good dose of fixative. It is starting to take shape.

Next phase- added detail to distant tree line. Laid base color on trees to right and began detail. I decided not to include a house that is in the distance and corn fields, but to instead paint fields of wild flowers found in Western NY during late summer. I put down an underpainting of a golden-brown and sprayed with a fixative. Next will be the flowers and some added details to the foreground trees. 

My current project. Started 9/3/11. It will eventually be a scene from Orleans county, Culvert Rd near Shelby. I was captured by this stone road curving through farm fields. The sky was spotted with clouds but I decided to go with just endless blue. The paper is colorfix 27.5x19.5. I will be using Mt Vision and Great American pastels. I drew a very rough outline, I like to see were it takes me without too much early details.

Sunrise at Mirror Lake

This is a painting I worked on yesterday (8/28/11), start to finish about 3 hours. I have been working on moving a little faster, mainly because of limited painting time and my need to paint more, and because I tend to over work my paintings. It was done on pastelmat, 22x17 using Mt Vision, Great American, Art Spectrum, and Mungyo soft pastels. I went through 3/4 of one color, GA Cypruc 115.4, for the first layer of sky and lake. Mt Vision are the main brand using mostly purples. The orange sunrise is Mungyo and the trees on the shore are Diane Townsend 53 and 50 (love these for darks!). As always, it was loads of fun!

I learned that I need a shop-vac to clean up. I have pastel dust everywhere!

Beginnings

Ever since I can remember I have loved to draw or doodle. There have been some serious phases, but as my life grew art seemed to become less important. After a recent trouble spot my wife suggested I spend time drawing again, maybe take a class or two. After my first class I realized what I used to love so much had been absent for so long. I was quickly hooked again, this time around with more appreciation and maturity.

I took a second class, drawing with color and that 'sealed the deal'. Pastels it was! I have jumped right in with both feet, cannon ball style. I love pastels and have started a very decent sized collection (don't tell my wife of my secret trips to the art store!) of Mt. Vision, Great American, Mungyo, Art Spectrum and a few Diane Townsends. I quickly sampled numerous papers and found Pastelmat to be my favorite. My wife bought my easel. I also have watercolors, liquid pencil, and many pencils.

Back to class... I went to the Creative Workshop at The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and took beginning drawing as a refresher. My teacher was Christina Laurel. She pointed me in good directions and was very encouraging. I even displayed some of my work in the student gallery. I then took drawing with color, taught by Christine Warra who introduce me to pastel (thank you!). This class gave me some excellent foundations in using color and was very inspiring as well.

I have continued to paint with pastels and have devoured on-line videos, books, magazines, youtube, on-line stores, and downloads to improve my work. It has been great fun and a valuable learning experience. My goal has become to be a part of our local art community on a part-time basis. I love to paint and though it was initially just for me, I have grown to want to share my art. I am currently working on this.

As I learn and grow I will share my work with you regularly, good and bad (Christine said there is no 'bad' work, its all for learning and to never throw it away). Please feel free to leave me any comments or criticisms on any art work I post! Thanks for reading and viewing!